Adjustable pad-skirt.



PATENTED DEC. 5, 1905.

s. H. HULL. ADJUSTABLE PAD SKIRT.

APPLICATION FILED MAILB. 1905- UNITED STATES PAENT onnion.

SCOTT H. HULL, OF OSKALOOSA, IOWA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO WILLIAM L. KELLERMAN, OF OSKALOOSA, IOWA.

ADJUSTABLE PAD-SKIRT.

Patented Dec. 5, 1905.

Application filed March 8, 1905. Serial No. 249,134.

T0 at whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, SCOTT H. HULL, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of Oskaloosa, Mahaska county, Iowa, have invented a new and useful Adjustable Pad-Skirt, of which the following is a specification.

The object of this invention is to provide an adjustable pad-skirt for harness.

A further object of this invention is to be found in the. provision of a pad-skirt adjustable longitudinally and means for maintaining any desired adjustment of said pad-skirt.

My invention consists in the construction, arrangement, and combination of elements hereinafter set forth, pointed out in my claims, and illustrated by the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is an edge View of my improved device. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of my improved device, a portion of one strap being cut away. Fig. 3 is a cross-section on the indicated line 3 3 of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a detail View of a connecting device employed be tween the members of the pad-skirt. Fig. 5 is a detail cross-section of a modified form of connecting device and the parts adapted to be joined thereby. Figs. 6 and 7 are views of a further modified form of my device.

In the construction of the device as shown the numeral 10 designates the base-leather of a pad-skirt, and 11 the face-leather thereof. The leathers 1O 11 are stitched together and lie parallel and in contact with each other. A slot 12 is formed in the face-leather 11, and a back-band billet 13 is fixed to and depends from the skirt longitudinally and in front of said slot. A skirt extension 14 is provided and preferably is of less width than the skirt proper. A buckle-piece 15 is mounted on and stitched to the skirt extension 14, and a buckle 16 thereon is adapted to engage and be adjustably connected to the billet 13. A hook 17 isprovided, and the stem thereof is flattened and formed with rivet-holes 18 19. The stem of the hook 17 is inserted between the skirt extension 14 and the buckle-piece 15 and is secured therein by one or more rivets 20, mounted through said buckle-piece and skirt extension and extending through a rivethole 18 or 19. One end portion of the stem of the hook 17 is curved or formed with a gooseneck, and a cross-head 21, of fiat, broad, and relatively thin material, is mounted at its center on the extremity of said gooseneck. The cross-head 21 is of a width approximating closely to the width of the slot 12 and of a length approximating to the distance between the marginal rows of stitching. whereby the leathers 1O 11 are connected to form the skirt. A trace-loop 22 and belly-band billet (not shown) may be mounted on the skirt extention 14 or any desired supporting and connecting devicesuch as a trace-buckle, tracebuckle hanger, slip-loop, or shaft-loopmay be substituted therefor, it being my purpose to adapt my present invention to use with any of various forms of supporting devices. The pad-skirt and billet 13 are formed and connected. The skirt extension 14 and parts carried thereby are formed and connected, and then the cross-head 21 of the hook 17 is mounted in and turned within the space be tween the leathers 10 11 by passing through the slot 12 into the position shown. The hook 17 and its cross-head 21 form a sliding connection between the skirt extension 14 and the pad-skirt, which connection may be adjusted to overlap the skirt extension and pad skirt varying degrees by lengthening or shortening the connection between the bille 13 and buckle 16.

It will be observed that the weight and strain of the trace, tug, or thill employed with this device will be carried and borne by the billet 13 and buckle 16 and that the hook 17 and its cross-head does not apply any weight on the leather 11 at the lower end of the slot 12, being held and sustained solely by the billet and buckle, it being the function of the hook and its cross-head to prevent separation and disarrangement of the desired re lations between the skirt extension and padskirt.

In the use of this device on opposite sides of a harness a considerable and material adjustment may be provided in the pad-skirt, thus arranging for the fitting of a given harness to a large, medium, or small horse.

I am aware that adjustable connections heretofore have been provided between the backband billet and devices employed to support a trace, tug, or thill; but such adjustments did not in any sense change the length of the skirtpad nor properly fit a harness to horses of various sizes. In Fig. 5 I show a plate 24, mounted between leathers 10 11, and a screw 25, mounted through a skirt extension 13 and seated in a nut 26, carried by said plate. This device will effect an adjustable connection between the pad-skirt and skirt extension and may be removed and replaced by removing and replacing the bolt or screw 25. In Figs. 6 and 7 1 show a metal plate 27, mounted between the leathers 1O 11 and formed with slots 28 in alinement with each other, which slots are adapted to receive the cross-head 21 and gooseneck of the connecting device and support said device. The adjustment is attained by changing the connecting device from one slot 28 to another, and the plate 27 takes the strain off the billet 13.

I do not desire to be limited to the precise construction employed in connecting the padskirt and skirt extension, since various modifications of such construction may be adopted without departing from the spirit of my invention.

I claim as my invention- 1. In a harness having a back-band, an adjustable pad-skirt fixed to said back-band.

2. In a harness having a back-band, a padskirt fixed to said back-band, a skirt extension suspended from said pad-skirt, and pivotal and sliding connections between said skirt extension and pad-skirt.

3. In a harness, a pad-skirt, sion, and pivotal connections pad-skirt and skirt extension.

4. In a harness, a pad-skirt, sion, and sliding connections pad-skirt and skirt extension.

5. In a harness, a pad-skirt, a skirt extension, and pivotal and sliding connections between said pad-skirt and skirt extension.

6. In a harness, a pad-skirt formed with a slot, a skirt extension, and a hook on said skirt extension and slidingly and pivotally i mounted in said slot.

a skirt extenbetween said a skirt extenbetween said 7. In a harness, a pad-skirt, a skirt extension, pivotal and sliding connections between said pad-skirt and skirt extension, a buckle on said skirt extension, and a billet on said pad-skirt adaptedto engage said buckle adjustably.

8. In a harness, a pad-skirt formed of two layers of leather arranged face to face and connected, one of said layers of leather formed with a slot, a skirt extension, an engaging device on said skirt extension and extending through said slot to and between said leathers, buckle and billet connections between said extension and pad-skirt and supporting devices carried by said extension.

9. In a harness, a pad-skirt formed with a slot and an interior slide-bearing, a skirt extension, a hook fixed to said skirt extension and a cross-head on said hook adapted for insertion through said slot into and for sliding engagement with said slide-bearing.

10. In a harness, a pad-skirt, a skirt extension and a connecting device composed of a stem fixed to said skirt extension, a gooseneck on said stem and a cross-head on said gooseneck adapted to engage said pad-skirt.

11. In a harness, the combination of an adjustable pad-skirt, comprising a plurality of members suitably connected, a billet on one- Signed by me at Oskaloosa, Mahaska county, Iowa, this 4th day of January. 1905.

SCOTT H. HULL. WVitnesses:

JOHN R. BARNES, H. S. HOWARD. 

